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AN ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVE OF NATIONALISM

Response to a debate: Hindus and Muslims did participate in the freedom
movement under Gandhi and fought under one flag in post-independence
wars. But never, never did they unite with reverence and respect for
each other's religions as in 1857.

The concept of religion in
1857 worked as a uniting, and not a divisive, force. Secondly, 1857 was
the uprising of the peasantry. Even sepoys were all peasants. This is
different from the Congress led freedom movement. Middle class, a
product of the British education system, dominated the latter. 0
The men and women who fought in 1857 had roots in pre-British India of
indigenous categories and practices. The same cannot be said of those
who fought in the post-1857 phase. Where else but in 1857 will you find
the Hindu religious peasantry going to Delhi to install a Muslim king?
Where else will you find Muslim cavalry placing Nana Sahab Peshwa, a
kattar Brahmin, on the throne of Kanpur?

Apart from a brief
period during the 1921 non-cooperation movement, Hindus and Muslims
never fought as one the way they fought in 1857.

Post-1921
freedom movement was a fractured entity. 1857 invoked both Islam and
Sanatan Dharma, Lord Krishna and Prophet Mohammad, in the same breath.
There was a sense in 1857 that though the rituals of worship might
differ, Hindus and Muslims are united by a common deen (a mystical, Sufi
term implying higher, soul driven, indigenous belief in God). Gandhi
invoked Ram but did not invoke Prophet Mohammad in the same breath.
Gandhi did not invoke 1857.
Gandhi did not invoke a common deen
for Hindus and Muslims. Despite his greatness, Gandhi failed in creating
a common ideological and cultural narrative for Hindus and Muslims in
the freedom struggle. That's why Muslims stood aloof and ultimately,
Jinnah became their leader. That's why Partition happened...that is why
communal forces despite killing Gandhi could were never rooted out. And
today, after overthrowing Gandhi, they are ruling us.

Nehru who
tried introducing a secular, scientific temper in the western sense to
the Gandhian liberal Hindu narrative too failed. Because Nehru was
unable to address the basic problem: that of invoking a common Deen
while uniting Hindus and Muslims. You say my language and rhetoric would
push ordinary citizenry away. We will not be able to fight against
Hindutva. On the contrary, both my intellectual work, the books on 1857,
and my political work in UP, has brought Hindus and Muslims together.
Hindu and Muslim peasants understand 1857...there is no village in UP
where a Hindu and a Muslim did not die together fighting the British in
1857.

Hindu-Muslim unity of 1857 was forged by ideology and
blood. The same unity was forged at a pan India level. My 1857 books
narrate how Gujratis, Marathis, Keralites, Tamils, Telugus, Kannadas,
Assamese, Sikhs, Punjabis, Jats, Bengalis, adivasis, OBCs, Dalits,
Oriyas, Hyderabadis, Manipuris, Nagas, Khasis, Mizos, Nagas, Kashmiris
fought alongside the Hindi-Urdu belt. This narrative implied a modern
concept of nation building far more extensive than the narrative of
Gandhi, Nehru or RSS.
The line of 1857 would have avoided
partition and taken India towards an anti-Imperialist, peasant path of
capitalist development. The model followed by Congress led India towards
a dependant, distorted landlord path of development. Basic structural
issues of Indian economy and society lie unresolved. And we are in the
21st century. You talk in abstract about an alternative vision that
people can relate to; well, people tried the Gandhian-Nehruvian
vision...they are giving the RSS 'vision' a chance. But both are unable
to reflect peoples aspirations. Only the 1857 vision applied to
contemporary times can do that.

The language and rhetoric attracts both
Muslims and BJP members. So the 1857 vision is a whole, alternative
platform of economic, social, cultural and political policies. It is our
only hope.

- Amaresh Misra
Author

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